The present invention relates to methods and systems for predictive analysis in a sensor environment, and, more particularly, to methods and systems for exploiting a wide variety of available sensors for passive detection and monitoring.
Remote detection and monitoring is a branch of signals intelligence, and typically entails active methods and systems. This active surveillance often involves, for example, transmission of an interrogating probe (e.g., acoustic, electromagnetic, optical, etc.) into the space of interest. This type of surveillance is overt, intrusive and detectable, all of which are undesirable for most surveillance applications, which typically desire to remain covert. In addition, most active methods require special purpose hardware and software. For example, electromagnetic domain ultra wideband (“UWB”)-based techniques radiate high repetition rate electromagnetic pulses into an interrogation space and process the reflected energy. UWB requires complex, sophisticated, and expensive hardware and signals processing systems, is still in the test and development phase, and most importantly is greatly hampered by regulatory spectrum management issues. Among these spectrum issues is the potential interference with Global Positioning and other signals.
Additionally, active surveillance and monitoring systems are often subject to tampering and/or blocking upon their detection. Indeed, not only does detection often defeat the purpose of the surveillance and monitoring, but it gives the surveyed the opportunity to block or tamper with the surveillance. Accordingly, there is a continued need for passive detection and monitoring methods and systems that are covert and do not require special purpose hardware.